First, we are all doing well here. J had a visit with our ped today (our practice doesn’t go to the hospital where we delivered) and he’s fine, though they want to test his bilirubin again tomorrow morning. He’s also lost right at 10% of his birth weight, which is as much as they really […]

I compromised with R on the toe. He suggested I go to urgent care. I opted for my primary care doctor instead.
Although the doc convinced himself that the toe wasn’t broken, he couldn’t rule out the possibility of a small fracture further down in the foot, where most of the tenderness and bruising are. I’m […]

Does breaking one’s toe give one a chance to practice pain-coping techniques for labor?
Yes it does, though at least in labor the pain comes and goes, with a break between contractions.
Am I just the most pathetic specimen of a human being at this point?
Yes, I am.
Is it time for this to be over?
Most definitely.

In the car after dinner, playing hide and seek with the moon*
covering eyes
mun,
doo,
dee,
[skips four and five]
siss,
mennen,
eight,
nie,
ten,
nennen
tel
duh-dee
fuh-dee
fee!
[uncovers eyes, looks out window]
Deh is!
*Yes, I am serious. She brings the Cute.

The girls spent the last two nights at MaDear’s in an extended sleepover. They will be back soon, but R and I made a major dent in the to-do list:
trip to CostCo and Target to buy the stuff we need for the hospital, etc.
bought a new freezer for the basement, put stuff in it
rearranged unfinished […]

So it’s a Clear Channel Christmas again—the holiday hits have been non-stop since about a week ago. Since it’s such an early Thanksgiving, this year’s CCC season may be the longest on record. This year in honor of those broadcast heroes, I am working on a complicated theorem to explain CC programming.
I think the […]

I am on maternity leave! Woo-hoo!
——————
But there is a smattering of stuff I agreed to close the loop on, unless the baby comes sooner than that. So I’m not really done. But I am no longer going in to work.
——————
We have lots of Thanksgiving goodness in our fridge, none of which was cooked by us. […]

three is harder, they warn;
no longer one for each hand.
and yet with
global warming
planes as missiles
war on terror
nuclear madmen
the end of an empire
just how invincible do they think
five fingers
and a palm
really are?

Had a doctor’s appointment this morning. The first time they weighed me something was wonky in the scale such that it said I gained 8 pounds in about 10 days. Um, no. But I loved the trying-not-to-freak look on the nurse’s face as she asked oh-so-casually, “Have you experienced any headaches or swelling?” No, I […]

Having a toddler who is wide awake waaaaaaaaay before you need to be is kinda like this:

You can sleep when you are dead.

So I am planning to submit a poem to the Merton Institute for Contemplative Living, which is having a poetry contest. From their website:
…Poetry that expresses, directly or indirectly, a sense of the holy or that, by its mode of expression, evokes the sacred. The tone may be religious, prophetic, or contemplative… Poems will be […]

My niece, Parker Chloe, is making her long trip out the short birth canal as we speak. I would send some dilating vibes out into the universe but I really don’t want them to rebound on me. Too much other stuff to do. (38 weeks today!)
—————–
As hard as it is to believe, R and […]

Last night at a good-natured but truly marathon meeting (honestly; people should have brought sleeping bags), the session of Suburban Pres approved my plans to move to half-time ministry following my maternity leave, including a proposal for two parish associates to each work 10 hours a week to cover my current responsibilities. Everything passed unanimously […]

I wrote here some months ago about “Ruth,” a member of the church who died. Ruth was a confirmation sponsor for a young woman, Marcie, who is now a young adult. Marcie was very upset at Ruth’s death and responded by writing Ruth a long letter, putting the letter inside a ceramic rabbit with one […]

My second review for MotherTalk.
The Right Words at the Right Time:
Volume 2: Your Turn!
edited by Marlo Thomas
“Thank you.”
“Incest.”
“Don’t be an asshole.”
These are just a few “words that made a difference” as described by a variety of folks in Marlo Thomas’s latest book. It is a followup to The Right Words at the Right Time, which […]